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Topic Review (Newest First)

05-07-2012 07:28 AM

Dog Ship

Re: Ideas on securing wires inside mast?

I just did this job yesterday.
I had a few things going for me though.
I have 3/4" foam lining the inside of my mast that goes up beyond the steaming light.
This foam was put there for four reasons.
One, to quiet the halyards.
Two, to hold the wires still as the wires are routed up between the mast and the foam.
Three, to help prevent shafing of the wiring.
Four, it helps to reduce condensation on the mast.
This has worked well for over 30 years and if it weren't for the upgrades I wanted to do it would probably have lasted for many more.
The advantage I had was I was able to insert the 1" sched 21 pvc up the mast in between the mast and foam, leaving the original foam in place.
I cut the end of the pvc on an angle so it would pass up the mast easier. With the foam going almost 3/4's of the way up the mast I did not have to rivet it all the way down. I riveted it about 1/3 of the way down and let the foam hold the rest of the conduit still. I did add a few rivets at the base of the mast and above and below the steaming light.
I also extended the conduit so it is flush with the bottom of my mast. The conduit sits on the mast step rather than relying on the rivets to take the weight. I used 90 degree pvc "T"'s for wire access at the steaming light and where the wires exit the mast. This gives me a full 1" access hole without compromising the conduit's structure.
Took me longer to measure, cut and glue the pieces together than it did to push it all the way up the mast and secure it with a few rivets.
I now have a new anchor light and wire, new vhf antenna and coax, new wires for my wind machine, new wires for my steaming light and deck lights and room for a radar data cable in the future.
My new genoa halyard will be tricky to get right. I cannot have it going around my Nav-tang cross bolts. It will need a clear run through the mast. Wire halyards can cut through Nav-tang cross bolts and bring down your mast.
When I am done I will have 6 new internal halyards, all new mast wiring and new "USCG" approved LED's.
All of my outside lights are now USCG approved LED's.
I have a thread going about this project. I have one more day of rigging left to do and then my mast is ready to go back in the boat.
I'm taking pictures and I will post them.

Good luck,
Peter

05-07-2012 01:03 AM

rhumbunctious

Re: Ideas on securing wires inside mast?

Large plastic zip ties.

At regular intervals along the wires fed through the mast, attach a zip tie, leaving the tail. Orient the tail at different directions at each interval. When pulled through the mast, the zip ties will act as "springs" keeping the cables pressed along the side of the mast, preventing them swinging back and forth and making noise.

Cheap. Light. Lasts forever. Easy to do. Works well for me.

05-07-2012 12:41 AM

travlineasy

Re: Ideas on securing wires inside mast?

I'm leaning real hard toward the Fun-Noodle deal--looks like it could solve an age-old problem very inexpensively.

I have used foam swim noodles with pretty good results. I have 7 or 8 five foot swim noodles up the mast now for 5 years now and it is so much more quiet than before. The were inexpensive $1.00 each and took some time to installing but it works for me.
Brad

Hi Gary,
I too have a Morgan OI33. I too had a banging mast that was a nightmare...the previous owners clearly never left the dock! So after considering everything we also used swim noodles and they have done the trick for 5 years now.

Mast was unstepped of course. We put in as many as would go in. The trick is getting them high enough in the mast. I believe we utilized messenger cord to pull up the noodles, taping them together into one long noodle. We got a couple of these multi-noodles probably 2/3 up the mast, which is plenty for this issue. We also pushed a few multi-noodles as high as we could. The most annoying obstacle is the tips of screws from stuff mounted on the mast, grabbing the foam noodles. Anyway, it worked. Good duct tape and Walmart swim noodles. Very cheap, and I don't see why they'd fall apart, at least not for many years. No noise now.

And if you get dis-masted in a blow your mast will now float!! ..just joking.

03-10-2012 08:44 AM

Minnewaska

Re: Ideas on securing wires inside mast?

Quote:

Originally Posted by chef2sail

The last time we had the boat unmasted ( I hate the term dimasted for obvious reasons)......

I say either step or unstep the mast.

I agree. Dismasting should never be mentioned near your boat, just like sinking, or holing, or we ran out of tequila.

03-10-2012 12:42 AM

chef2sail

Re: Ideas on securing wires inside mast?

The last time we had the boat unmasted ( I hate the term dimasted for obvious reasons) in the boatyard was to rewire the mast with new tined wire to the electronics, put a wind instrument on the top and replace the VHF cable with really good R213 to reduce signal loss.

We had been getting lots of black particles in our bilge after every rainfall before we took the mast down to the point where it clogged the screen in our bilge pumps frequently. When we took it down we discovered that the previous foam had been disintergrating and aflling into the bilge.

Since the inside of the mast is usually a difficult place to do work and usally only is exposed when you have it removed which we dont do often ( years between pulls) we opted to fix this right with the conduit. Be carefull about what you put in there that it doesnt disintergrate, absorb water, or become balled and lodged in there, especially if your halyards are internal like ours.

Dave

03-09-2012 09:40 PM

travlineasy

Re: Ideas on securing wires inside mast?

Brad,

How did you get them inside your mast?

Gary

03-09-2012 09:09 PM

Bradhamlet

Re: Ideas on securing wires inside mast?

I have used foam swim noodles with pretty good results. I have 7 or 8 five foot swim noodles up the mast now for 5 years now and it is so much more quiet than before. The were inexpensive $1.00 each and took some time to installing but it works for me.
Brad

03-09-2012 07:43 PM

travlineasy

Re: Ideas on securing wires inside mast?

When you're my age, 71, nothing is "long term." I'm hoping to get another 5 to 7 years under my belt before the body parts fail to the point where I'm a navigational hazard when sailing. Beyond that, I suspect I'll be donating the boat for a tax write-off and riding along with someone younger and smarter than myself.

Cheers,

Gary

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